


Here Without You

by sarahsharpe1231



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 10:45:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12319452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahsharpe1231/pseuds/sarahsharpe1231
Summary: It's been four months since Barry went into Speed Force. Cisco needed to see his best friend again. (Post 3x23)





	Here Without You

**Author's Note:**

> Essentially, this fic happened for two reasons: A) I needed to theorize how Cisco made the new suit IDENTICAL to Barry's in 2024 and B) I needed our Cisco interacting with his future, broken self. He still has his powers and is even still alive because H.R. made the decision he did. It was sheer luck. Cisco needs to learn what can happen if he's not careful.
> 
> Also, as you'll see, I've had a theory for a WHILE that the Speed Force isn't too fond of vibers. They can literally disrupt speedsters' connection to it. (It's also punishing Cisco for manipulating it and letting Jay out.)
> 
> Finally, I just needed more Cynco content as my baby girl isn't coming back until episode 2.
> 
> Pretty sure that's it! Enjoy!!!

Ever since the team got back together, Cisco’s had a secret project: updating the satellites to rival the accuracy of the abilities he once held so dear. After seven years of sitting and waiting, he was longing for the taste of heroism again and if Vibe couldn’t be a part of Team Flash this time around, Cisco Ramon, mechanical engineer, still could. It just felt good to be doing good again—to be surrounded by the people he held dearest…well, almost all of them.

Suddenly, Cisco felt a chill down his spine and an all too familiar sensation coming back. He looked up and if he didn’t know better, he could’ve sworn he was dreaming. He saw _him_ …seven years younger and surrounded in multi-dimensional energy…but him. Looks like Barry kept his promise.

“Well, I’ll be…” Cisco said, almost at a lost for words.

“What…?” his younger self asked, looking around. “Where I am…?”

“Something tells me you already know,” he answered.

“This…this is where Barry was,” Cisco said, looking around the cortex. “This is what would’ve been if Iris had died.”

“If…?” his older self asked, standing up.

“Yeah,” Cisco swallowed—the guilt eating away at him. “H.R. took her place. She’s alive.”

“So why are you here?” his counterpart asked.

“After H.R. died,” Cisco began to explain, “I let Jay out of the Speed Force and…Barry took _his_ place. I was trying to vibe him… I somehow got bounced here.”

“Cisco, the Speed Force is not going to let you see him,” his older self said, making his way around the desk.

“What do you mean?” Cisco asked.

“You saw what Cindy did to Wally,” he answered. “You know what power you have over it. It’s scared of you.”

“Don’t you mean scared of ‘ _us_ ’?” Cisco clarified.

“No,” his older self said, slipping the gloves off his hands. “You.”

Cisco looked down and couldn’t believe what he saw. Instead of hands, his future self had cybernetic prosthetics. Barry had told him a lot about this future—that Wally was paralyzed and Caitlin was locked up in Iron Heights—but he neglected to tell him this.

“Caitlin did this,” Cisco said, putting the pieces together.

“Killer Frost,” his counterpart corrected him, putting the gloves back on. "Don’t be naïve like I was. Where is she?”

“I don’t know,” Cisco said, a little too casually. “I lost her, too.”

“You haven’t tried vibing _her_?” his older self asked.

“She left because she wanted to,” Cisco answered. “I’m trying to respect that.”

“You’re a good friend, Cisco,” future-him responded.

“It’s not easy,” Cisco confessed.

“No, it’s not,” his older self said. “But you’ll get through this.”

“How do you know?” he asked.

“Because we’re tougher than we look,” his counterpart replied. “It takes a lot to break us.”

“It takes a lot to kill us,” Cisco said, looking his older self straight in the eyes.

“That, too,” he responded.

A few awkward seconds of silence passed before Cisco had the nerve to ask what he really wanted to the second he realized where he was.

“Can I see him?” he asked.

“See who?” future-him replied.

“Barry,” Cisco said. “ _Your_ Barry. While I’m here. It’s been four months.”

“Yeah,” he answered. “Yeah, of course.”

The older man went back around the desk and put his finger down on the comm button. He leaned into the mic.

“Hey, Barry,” he said. “I have someone here who’s looking for you.”

Not two seconds went by before a familiar gust of wind and streak of lighting charged into the cortex. Seeing who was standing in front of him almost brought Cisco to tears. His best friend—albeit a more rugged, sadder version in a brand new suit—was just feet away from him. He wanted nothing more than to run into his arms but Cisco was well too aware of the fact that he wasn’t actually there and therefore couldn’t touch him. He wondered if Barry could even see him.

“Cisco?” Barry said, eyes wide. “Oh my god. You can still…”

“He got lucky,” his Cisco responded.

“No, I didn’t,” Cisco clarified. “Barry, where I am, you’re trapped in the Speed Force. You _have_ been. For months.”

“What about Iris?” Barry asked without hesitation. “Is she—“

“She’s alive,” Cisco’s older self assured him.

“You saved her?” Barry asked.

“At the cost of H.R.’s life,” Cisco responded solemnly. 

“I’m so sorry,” Barry replied. 

Not wanting to think anymore about the consequences of having Iris back, Barry quickly changed the subject.

“What brings you to the future?” Barry asked. “Anything we can do?”

“No,” Cisco said as he began to fidget with his hands.

He didn’t want to reveal to Barry that he had tried to vibe into the Speed Force. He wasn’t even going to tell _his_ Barry that he had tried doing that. The humiliation would be too much. Barry had told him that he had always been his hero. Failure and weakness was the last thing he wanted Barry to see from him.

“Nothing,” he continued responding. “I just…I think I actually might be asleep right now, anyway. Take care.”

“You, too, Cisco,” Barry said, flashing him a sad smile he would hold with him until he got his Barry back.

His future self gave him a two-finger salute. Eventually, Cisco let go of the vibe and disappeared. All of a sudden, H.R. came in to the cortex enjoying what was no doubt his third cup of coffee so far that day.

“Hey!” he said, startling Barry and Cisco. “Who were you fellas chatting with?”

“Uh, no one,” Cisco said, taking a deep breath. “It was just us.”

* * *

 

Back in the breach room, Cisco opened his eyes and immediately grabbed for the vibe amplification headset he was wearing that he so desperately tried to modify before attempting to reach Barry. It had been a running theme these past four months—nothing he had done was ever enough.

“Hey!” Cindy yelled, running up to him and putting a hand on his leg. "Hey. Are you okay? Did you see him?”

“No,” Cisco said, running his hands through his hair. “I didn’t. But I did see something. I saw what could’ve been—”

“—if Savitar killed Iris?” Cindy guessed.

“Yeah,” Cisco said, meeting her eyes. “Yeah, it was…pretty bad. I thought it was hell here but…at least we can get him back.”

“We can,” she assured him. “And we will. _You_ will. I believe in you.”

“Do you think he blames me?” Cisco asked after a few seconds of thought.

“Who blames you?” Cindy asked.

“Barry,” Cisco answered. “For letting Jay out…forcing him to take his place!”

“You did _nothing_ wrong,” Cindy yelled. “Jay had no need being in there—and I’m not saying Barry _does_ but… He is a hero—just like you are—and no matter why, when, or how, would’ve done _anything_ to save the people he cares about. He wouldn’t have let Jay suffer in there much longer, anyway.”

“You’re right,” Cisco said, nodding his head. “He _is_ a hero.”

Cisco got up from the chair and headed toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Cindy asked.

Cisco stopped and turned his head back to her.

“To let him know we all still believe in him,” he said and headed out the door.


End file.
